some ideas please

i am a junior getting ready for football in the fall. i am 5ft 8in. i started lifting in december at 170lbs, bench 185, squat 300, and deadlift 385. yesterday was maxout day for football. i weighed in at 185, benched 265, squated 385 and deadlift 460(hexbar its what coach makes us use). those are good gains but at february maxout i was 180 benched 245, squated 375 and dwadlift 445. what can i do to expidite my gains, i cant/wont use to intense sups because of highschool sports rule. i am on right now a mas gainer only

Westside is the conjugate method, which is used by the strongest powerlifters in the world. It has been said the best way to train for overall performance is dynamic, repetition and maximum effort work.

Supplemental Exercise – perform 2 sets of max reps in one of the following exercises. (Choose a weight you can perform for 15-20 reps on the 1st set. Use the same weight for both sets and rest 3-4 minutes between sets).

I'd rather meet and have a conversation with Mark Rippetoe - than to have one with President Obama.

When you first start - you have no foundation. There's no need to do complicated "isolation" moves. If you want to increase gains you need to lift heavier to pack on more muscle - and for that you need good old fashioned barbell training ... COMPOUND MOVES.

Curls for biceps? Why? Do pullups instead - works the biceps and the lats at the same time.

The Squat and Deadlift are the two most valuable moves to pack on mass - but they are potentially dangerous also. That's why I recommend Rippetoe's book - he goes into more detail on each exercise than you'll ever want to know.

Here's a great lead-in from his book ...

The human body functions as a complete system – it works that way, and it likes to be trained that way. It doesn’t like to be separated into its constituent components and then have those components exercised separately, since the strength obtained from training will not be utilized in this way. The general pattern of strength acquisition must be the same as that in which the strength will be used. The nervous system controls the muscles, and the relationship between them is referred to as “neuromuscular.” When strength is acquired in ways that do not correspond to the patterns in which it is intended to actually be used, the neuromuscular aspects of training have not been considered. Neuromuscular specificity is an unfortunate reality, and exercise programs must respect this principle the same way they respect the Law of Gravity.

I'd rather meet and have a conversation with Mark Rippetoe - than to have one with President Obama.

When you first start - you have no foundation. There's no need to do complicated "isolation" moves. If you want to increase gains you need to lift heavier to pack on more muscle - and for that you need good old fashioned barbell training ... COMPOUND MOVES.

Curls for biceps? Why? Do pullups instead - works the biceps and the lats at the same time.

The Squat and Deadlift are the two most valuable moves to pack on mass - but they are potentially dangerous also. That's why I recommend Rippetoe's book - he goes into more detail on each exercise than you'll ever want to know.

Here's a great lead-in from his book ...

Rippetoe is a great author. The only issue I have with his writings is I think you should pull on the horizontal plane if you push on it. Bench presses are prefound for scapula protraction and internal humeral rotation and in order to defeat the imbalance you'd need to train rows, which retracts the scapula and stimulates the external rotators. With that said I think rows should be a staple with any program in which bench presses are a staple as well.

I wish I would have figured this out in the early days when I had trouble gaining size:

Rest more.

Specifically your rest (recovery) is often neglected because it's not glamorized like workout routines and diets. There's also more money to be made in hawking diets/foods/supplements and workout vids/books/etc. than telling someone that they need a nap, or an extra hour of sleep a night. But the strength and power "triangle" so to speak, is made up quite equally of workout, diet, and recovery. SS and WSB are strong suggestions, definitely look into them. Just don't forget to get more rest.

I work out Mon. Wed. And Friday... I run 2-3miles tues and sat. Do you think it's to much.. Just for saying sleep, mon-thurs I normally hit the hay around 10 and wake up at six thirty. Friday and Saturday is a little Iffy though.

I work out Mon. Wed. And Friday... I run 2-3miles tues and sat. Do you think it's to much.. Just for saying sleep, mon-thurs I normally hit the hay around 10 and wake up at six thirty. Friday and Saturday is a little Iffy though.

There's no reason to run 2-3 miles for football. You won't cover this distance in a game, and if you move at that speed during a game you'll find yourself on your ass or the bench.

Start doing some running that is football appropriate. Maybe 150 yard shuttles on tuesday and some 20's or 30's and agility drills on saturday.

And you might also want to check out 5/3/1 for football by Jim Wendler

Conditioningnis important but so is endurance.. Back in my hgh school football days we usta run 2 miles to warm up for practice

And how did that benefit you in practice or on the field?

I'd be willing to place money on it that if you cut that 2 miles down to 1/4 mile and put more emphasis onto a dynamic warm up with a focus on mobility, the team would perform better as a whole both in practice and on the field.

Is a baseline level of endurance needed to play football - yes. But do you need to improve upon that baseline aerobic fitness to improve performance - no. Its taken some time, but finally high school coaches are starting to realize that there is no need to place such an emphasis on aerobic work, and also that testing the mile run as a measure of fitness for football is entirely useless.

I'd be willing to place money on it that if you cut that 2 miles down to 1/4 mile and put more emphasis onto a dynamic warm up with a focus on mobility, the team would perform better as a whole both in practice and on the field.

Is a baseline level of endurance needed to play football - yes. But do you need to improve upon that baseline aerobic fitness to improve performance - no. Its taken some time, but finally high school coaches are starting to realize that there is no need to place such an emphasis on aerobic work, and also that testing the mile run as a measure of fitness for football is entirely useless.

Br

Im not sure of the direct correlation of long distance running to football. Im sure there are more efficent ways of increasing endurance with movements that will transfer over to the actual sport but long distance running is a definitive way to increase muscle endurance and in the off season theres nothing wrong with it..2-3 miles is easily covered in one game especially i high school football when a lot of the better guys play offense an defense..again i cant tell you exactly how exactly running transfera over to football but in my personal experience my high school team made it to the semi finals with two captains out with knee injuries me being one of them

I'd be willing to place money on it that if you cut that 2 miles down to 1/4 mile and put more emphasis onto a dynamic warm up with a focus on mobility, the team would perform better as a whole both in practice and on the field.

Is a baseline level of endurance needed to play football - yes. But do you need to improve upon that baseline aerobic fitness to improve performance - no. Its taken some time, but finally high school coaches are starting to realize that there is no need to place such an emphasis on aerobic work, and also that testing the mile run as a measure of fitness for football is entirely useless.

Br

^ This is true.

The type of cardio you should be doing preparing for cardio is HIIT style. You're going to want to focus on agility and sprinting moreso than long steady cardio.

The reasons a lot of football teams lose games is they are weak in too many fundamentally important areas like sprint work, dynamic training, mobility, muscular strength, muscular endurance, neuromuscular coordination they'd be much more successful on the field.

Im not sure of the direct correlation of long distance running to football. Im sure there are more efficent ways of increasing endurance with movements that will transfer over to the actual sport but long distance running is a definitive way to increase muscle endurance and in the off season theres nothing wrong with it..2-3 miles is easily covered in one game especially i high school football when a lot of the better guys play offense an defense..again i cant tell you exactly how exactly running transfera over to football but in my personal experience my high school team made it to the semi finals with two captains out with knee injuries me being one of them

I'm sorry to hear about your injury.

You are right, there's nothing wrong with distance running per say, its just not the type of endurance that you need to improve upon significantly to succeed in sports like football, or basketball, soccer, or field hockey for that matter. You need a base, but once you have that base, you need to work to improve performance limiting fitness.

These performance limiting factors will vary based upon the position. For example, a performance limiting fitness factor for a wide out might be a 40 yard dash. An endurance limiting factor for a wide out might be the ability to run 20 x 60 yard sprints under a certain time with just 40 seconds of rest in between.

Focusing on running 2-3 miles several times a week will improve neither of these.